The Afterworld
by lokyrie11
Summary: What happens to both Captain Barbossa and Salazar after their respective deaths. This is not meant to be serious, just something silly I thought about and decided to write. (Slight spoilers for DMTNT.)


"The Afterworld"

Chapter 1. Second Chances

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 _Hector Barbossa's POV_

He hit the water so hard, so fast after the plummet. Everything was dark and lonely and cold. He would be damned to eternity in this sea, lost forever, after that glorious moment of realizing that his flesh and blood, his Carina, accepted him, shared her love of the stars and the sea with him. He shared his last adventure with the daughter he never thought he would meet.

That was all he had left, the only good that came from it all- that time with her. All would be darkness from now on. He would pay the price of the ills he committed in life.

Bubbles.

Aquamarine, the color of the ocean, shimmers of light, bubbles dancing across his eyes like stars. He awoke.

Barbossa prepared himself for the devil's torment to come, expecting the demons to swallow him up and take him to the eternal crypt in the sea, for his skin to turn to barnacles, feeling nothing but excruciating cold, for his eyes to see no more.

He spread his arms and legs, and began to swim, past schools of fish and a star-galaxy of bubbles, swimming into the beckoning glow of sunlight above the surface. With a splash, he broke free. Land.

He surveyed the beach, the sugar-white sand. Beyond the beach lay a lush forest, as far as his eyes could see. Some of the trees bore delectable fruits. A fountain of clear water fell from a cliff of onyx-colored rock, glistening in this otherworldly sun. He began to walk and realized how light he felt on his feet, how fresh and strong his muscles felt. His leg was restored.

He was young again.

Barbossa approached the fountain and drank deep of the cold, refreshing water. He was soon approached by dozens of others, young men. Some faces looked familiar. They had once been his men, those who had died before him long ago. Some others he had never laid eyes on before, but all were young, eager, in good health and spirits.

This was not hell. This was heaven. How did he deserve this?

"Welcome to the world beyond, Captain," one of them said to him in greeting. "We have been waiting for you." They stood in line and proceeded to shake the Captain's hand.

"We have been here enjoying ourselves for such a long time, Captain, but we have become bored here in paradise. We need a mission. We need to sail again, but we have no ship."

Barbossa looked about, at all the trees in the vast forests. "These trees provide wood. Build a ship, then! Why must you wait another minute?"

The men cheered jubilantly then, with choruses of ' _Aye-Aye!'_

"We were waiting for your command," said the first man. "We now have a mission!"

"Waiting all this time? For me?"

"Yes," said the first man. "We could not begin to build our ship until our Captain was reunited with us."

"Do you have my gold? My jewels? How will we finance it?"

"There is no gold here. Not one single coin."

Barbossa looked around, down at his clothing- his legs. He had no more gold, no more treasure. His legs were restored to health, but all of the material goods he had worked so extremely hard at stealing and pillaging, all he killed for, his life's work, were gone.

"We don't need it here, Captain. We have tools to harvest the forests, we will collect wood to build your new ship. A great ship. But we wanted you to give us the command first."

"I command you to build it!" exclaimed Barbossa, elated with joy at the fact he was not sent to eternal torment. This island paradise was going to be his. All _his-_ along with his crew of men, alive again. These men had waited all this time just for him.

How did Providence come to have such wonderful mercy on a greedy, thieving Pirate?

The men cheered and took off running to their huts, a simple colony in this great island Heaven, off to the east of the vast shoreline of sugar sand. He followed them, and saw that as they came out of their simple bamboo huts they bore axes and saws, hammers, nails and all kinds of metalwork. The first man approached him again, with a scroll of parchment, a quill, and ink.

"We want you to draw out the plans."

"I shall," said Barbossa. He took the parchment and stood there a moment, beginning to imagine how he would build the best ship ever, the ship of his dreams. _The Black Pearl_ would be nothing compared to this!

" _Bienvenido!_ "

A graveled voice boomed from behind him, from the sea. Barbossa turned around, and his new crew looked over in astonishment, muttering among themselves. They were now joined by others.

Newly dead men, resurrected to glowing health, all of them marching from the sea to the sand. Scores of them.

And the man in the lead was grinning at Barbossa in wicked delight. His uniform was clean and pristine, and his brass buttons shimmered in the high-noon sun of this new earth. His black hair was now pulled back handsomely and covered with a smart officer's cap. His face was restored to as it was in life, and his dark eyes shone in a mixture of joyful mirth and proud, haughty challenge.

Barbossa's men were confused and alarmed.

 _'Who is this?'_

 _'It can't be!'_

 _'I know who that is! He killed me!'_

 _'The wretched Spaniard!'_

Barbossa was furious. "How did you get here? You do not _deserve_ this!" he yelled.

"Señor Barbossa, if the angels can forgive you and save you from damnation, so they can for my men, and I. There is room on this great island for all of us. Sí?"

"He has a point there, Captain," said one of Barbossa's pirates in the crowd.

Barbossa looked back at his crew, noticing that some of them were nodding along with the one who had spoken.

"So, amigo- are you going to invite us to stay?" Salazar was grinning at Barbossa like a fool. _Amigo?_

Barbossa took several deep breaths. "You call me your friend? Look at us- we are all what you _hated_ in life! We are not even men to you. Only pirates- rats to be drowned!"

Salazar laughed, a sincere and joyful laugh. "Ah, but that is all in the past. Look! I have been reunited with mi papá, y mi abuelo." He pointed to two men nearest him, who both reached out to shake his hand. " _Bueno conocerte!"_ they said to him.

Barbossa was now realizing this might not be heaven after all, but hell, being in the presence of not only one, but three Salazars. He was stuck having to shake their hands while his crew watched.

"I was given a challenge," said Salazar. "I died in the ocean moments before you- died for the second time. _Dos muertes._ A great angel...of the sea...she had the form of a beautiful woman," he said, pausing for effect. "Her name was Marisol-" he continued slowly, drawing out the rolled R's in the name.

"Go on," said Barbossa, impatient.

"She told me that I would be given a new life. I would not be cursed or damned- if- only if - I were to reach out a hand of peace to the _pirates_ I hated in life."

Salazar was trying hard to not make a distasteful expression while he said the word 'pirates,' but Barbossa could tell he _was_ having a hard time of it.

"And we expect us to reach out a hand in peace to you?" said Barbossa, still miffed.

"I did not expect. But I...hoped," said Salazar, shrugging.

"Very well then, Salazar. I have an idea. You and I. _Amigos_ , then."

Salazar nodded. "Sí."

"I have a challenge for you. You and your men will build a ship, and so will we. And then- when our ships are built, we will have a race. The fastest ship's captain can stay here. The loser must take his ship and crew and move on."

"Challenge accepted," said Salazar. He turned around to face his crew, and they gave him nods in agreement. The idea intrigued all of them. A new ship to build and sail! A few of Salazar's crew were good at carpentry, and Salazar's papá had the ability, in his life long ago, to design a vessel.

"Sí, Armando. We need work to do. No idleness!" Salazar's father- Captain Rafael Juan Armando Salazar- said to him sternly. His own father, Captain Javier Luis Salazar- the patrarch of the three, nodded. The family was reunited. Apparently, they were all so blissfully happy to be together again that they were willing to forgive the pirates they hated. Either that, or Salazar's father and grandfather were demanding that he forgive. Who knew what kind of hellish existence those two had just been released from? And who was this Marisol?

Even though Barbossa could not believe it, he found himself shaking Armando Salazar's white-gloved hand.

He turned back to his crew. "What are you waiting for? Get out in that forest and harvest that wood! We have a ship to build!"

The crowd of pirates, about a hundred and fifty in number, whooped and cheered. "Aye-aye, Captain!"

And so began the heavenly afterlife of Hector Barbossa and Armando Salazar, with the crews they'd commanded in life. It was ship building time.

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Not sure if this is a one-shot or longer. I want to do more I think. Let me know if you want to see more Friendly!Salazar and Barbossa.

SmileyJess


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